, 1887-04-13
FOOD BY SCIENTIFIC METHODS.
THO Possible Results to 30 Reached by
Chcnnistry-Thc NInIthusian Spccter.

Ifc Iossibls i,csulfs to 10 Rcaclied by
Chcinistry-Thc Mnlthusian Spccter.
1t Is pleasant to turn from these wars
and rrmors Of wars and preparation for
lighting TO some of the contemplated vic
tories OF peace md science. The Sicmens
are q famous family Of German savants
who have made important discoveries in
several departments of scientific research.
One of the brothers invented the process
OF storing electricity. The possibilities Of
this invention are in~calculable. We are
only beginning to dimly realize its i'm
portance. DR.. Sicmen, another brother,
has written IA work IN which he boldly
states that we are on the eve of the pro-
duction Of food by scientific methods
without depending upon plant or animal
reproduction and growth. He says that
chemistry, in conjunction with electro
technics, will some day teach man to
make the food lie now obtains from the
earth by II combination of the elements
Of which such food consists and which
nature supplies everywhere in the utmost
abundance. In other words, science, he
thinks, may at some future time lay the
Malthusian spccter of overpopulation and
diminishing returns from the soil.
Another suggestion is that the recent
achievements OF science, with the aid Of
mechanical art, POI the field of ap-
Piled electricity, will restore to labor the
relative independence from capital it en-
JOycd before the command of machine
power hy the latter rendered competition
of the individual wage worker with me-
chanical production impossible. They will
also restore, he thinks, the greater exer-
else Of individual intelligence in labor, In
place of the mere mechanical performance
compelled by the present organization Of
industrial production. He does not do
fine his meaning In detail on this point,
but it Is evident, from his other public ex-
pressions on this favoritc subject, that lie
expects those results to be accomplished
by the great %chcapening of mechanical
power, through its general distribution,
among the mass of workers, by electricity,
so hat they can free themselves from the
advantage capitol has now over them by
exclusive command Of expensive machine
power.
What u vista this opens up before usi
ii the chemist can take the elements OF
the earth about us and produce whole
some and palatable food ut u very trining
cost, how changed will be the whole life
of man on this planetl Poverty will be
abolished. The surface of the globe can
then become one vast city. There would
be no more slaughtering of animals for
iOobi Hol eoiisolHc iaool III tno wheat anu
corn fields. All this may seem visionary;
bu suppose an old Grecian or Roman
was told that some day men would travel
In safety Mt the rate Of 60 miles an hour;
that immense ships would pillow through
the ocean at 20 miles an hour, regardless
OF wind or waves; or, more marvellous
still, that II message could be flashed
under the ocean and in answer be re-
turned in u few moments. The citizen of
the ancient world would have said that his
informant was u l~unatic; that such things
was prodigies hat man could never hope
TO accomplish. Tho telephone, through
which people can keep up n conversation
hundreds of miles apart, would have
seemed still more incredible to those who
lived III q prescientilic age. The possibili-
tic Of scientific discovery are simply in
calculablc. -Demorest's Monthly.